Last week the Boston Red Sox signed the Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. The first time I saw Matsuzaka pitch was the quarter-finals of the 1998 National High School Baseball Tournament (Koshien) in Japan. That was the start of the three game stretch of games at Koshien that made Matsuzaka a legend at 17 years old. For starters, Matsuzaka pitched all 17 innings of that quarter-final match-up with PL Gakuen of Osaka. The next day he pitched only a couple of innings in a come-back victory against Meitoku Gijuku (where I taught English for several years), but it was Matsuzaka coming in from left field to pitch with Yokohama losing 6-1 that broke the spirit of the Meitoku players and sparked the come-back. On the third day of that stretch all Matsuzaka did was pitch the first no-hitter in the Koshien final in 60 years. Here's a YouTube video of highlights of Matsuzaka at Koshien:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVzZUXUe3kg

And, for my Japanese readers, here is a speech I wrote for a 3rd year Japanese class at Princeton University's intensive summer Japanese program that is about Koshien and Matsuzaka:


“サッカーは美しいゲーム”と聞いたことがあります。でも、私の考えは、世界の一番純粋なゲームは日本の高校野球だと思います。学生の選手達は野球が大好きだから一生懸命頑張るし、学生の応援団は野球の英雄のために一生懸命応援します。毎年、大会が始まる時には全部のチームに同じチャンスがあります。高校野球の中で、この純粋な雰囲気が何よりも好きです。
日本では高校野球は非常に人気があります。春の大会も夏の大会も全部の試合をテレビで生放送します。高校野球についての雑誌、マンガ、アニメ、それに特別なテレビ番組もあります。ＰＬ学園や智弁和歌山や私のいた明徳義塾はアメリカン・フットボールのノートルダムやマイアミ大学のように有名です。
どうして日本で高校野球がそんなに人気がありますかと言う人がよくいます。私の意見ではそれには２つの理由があります。１つ目は高校野球は地方の代表がやるスポーツだということです。日本にとって自分の地元は本当に大切な物だと思います。もし自分の近くにある学校が甲子園へ行けば自分の出身地に対する思いが増えるかも知れません。２つ目は日本人は頑張るのが好きだという理由です。勝つか負けるか関係がありません。日本人はみんなは一生懸命頑張っているのを見たがります。
私は日本に初めて来た時日本語はまったくできませんでした。テレビを見たかったけど、何も分かりませんでした。そのような人にとってスポーツを見るのは一番分かりやすいと聞いたことがありました。でも、高校野球には１つの大きな問題があります。それは、ほとんどのチームはいつも真っ白で漢字が書いてあるユニフォームを着てやっているということです。試合を見る時、どこのチームとどこのチームがやっているのかは、いらいらするぐらい分かりにくいと思います。
この問題のせいで私の最初の好きなチームはローマ字で学校名が書いてあるグレーのユニフォームを着ている仙台育英高校でした。この選び方は中途半端だと思いますけど当時は他の方法はありませんでした。でも、２つの嬉しいことがあります。１つ目は去年の春の大会に私はその仙台育英を甲子園球場まで見に行きました。あの時仙台育英の応援団に入ってとなりのお客さんと今の話をして、すぐ友達になったことです。２つ目はその後にその仙台育英が決勝戦までいったことです。
次に私の一番好きな高校野球選手を紹介したいと思います。この人は1998年の夏の大会で見事な試合を３つやって、高校野球のレジェンドになりました。まず準々決勝で１回から延長１７回まで２５０球を投げました。やはり、次の日にこの人の腕はだめでしたからレフトで先発しました。７回まで投げて６―１で負けました。腕がだめだったけど、８回にこの人はマウンドの上に登りました。球場に入った４０、０００人が“ハッ”って首をかしげました。その８回と９回にこの人が本当に頑張ってこの人のチームが７―６で勝ちました。あの日の最後に負けた高校は私のいた明徳義塾高校でした。今までも私は最後のスコアボードのことが信じられないです。家の高校が負けたけど、最後の決勝戦にこの人はどんなプレーをするかを楽しみにしていました。まだ信じられませんがその人は６９年ぶりのノーヒット・ノーラン決勝戦を達成しました。その横浜高校の松坂大輔は私の高校野球の英雄になりました。
甲子園に入る時はいつも鳥肌が立ちます。もし誰か石川県大会に行きたかったら、いい思い出を作りに私と一緒に行きましょう。

Later on this month the film "Letters from Iwo Jima" will premiere in the U.S. and in my opinion this has the potential to be a very important film on many levels. It is perhaps the first major Hollywood studio release to be in a foreign language and subtitled in 25 years (since The Boat, in 1981, probably) and is part of the rediscovery of World War II that "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line" started 10 years ago. Too few films have approached the war in the Pacific and, obviously, even fewer have approached the war from the point of view of the Japanese. In preparation of this, I'll offer up my own Top 5 War Movies (though, if "Letters" is as good as I think it is going to be, this list may change).

1) Tora, Tora, Tora (1970) - While this film has faults in that it takes a pseudo-revisionist point of view that places a great deal of insinuated blame on the American commanders at Pearl Harbor. Regardless, it contains no fictional story line and does a reasonable job of telling the story of the lead-up to Pearl Harbor in a dramatic way. The cinematography is good, the Japanese is authentic, and the action sequences were good enough that films like Midway (1976) just used the same footage.

2) The Boat (Das Boot, 1981) - Not only did this movie cement Jurgen Prochnow's status as the founding member of the All Purpose Eastern Europeans, it portrayed war from a different perspective than, perhaps, we had ever seen. Wolfgang Petersen directed the film in a way that makes the viewer feel the claustrophobia that must have come from serving in a German U-Boat. Through hours and hours (the movie is long at 149 minutes, longer at 216 minutes if you see the German version, and really LONG at 293 minutes if you see the director's cut) of not much happening to these soldiers, followed by intense moments of violence. Incredible.

3) Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Even putting aside from the rightfully famous opening 25 minutes, this film has an amazing amount going for it. Even if the idea that the U.S. Army would send a single squad of Rangers off on a mission to retrieve one soldier is ridiculous, the more important thing is the questions that this story line forces the characters to deal with. What is the value of one individual during a war? What are the conflicts that a group of soldiers have to deal with within their group? How do they handle groupthink type of situations? How does the chain of command suffer and survive over time? In any event, I think this film is the best of the "rediscovered" war film style.

4) Glory (1989) - A great film and an important one for any American to see in order to understand exactly what the point of the Civil War was. The film is a lot more about the development of the Massachusetts 54th and the battles that they fought with each other than it is about the battles that they fought against the Confederate Arny.

5) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - Perhaps the ultimate anti-war statement and far ahead of its time.

Honorable Mention: In Harm's Way (1965), Gallipoli (1981), The Enemy Below (1957), Guadalcanal Diary (1943), A Soldier's Story (1984), etc.

In a couple of hours the BCS Selection show will be on TV and we will find out which college football team will be playing against Ohio State in the national championship game on January 8. The whole bowl system is a mess these days, with a bunch of meaningless games in January and a system that seems to cause more arguments than the old days because it is "supposed" to set up a game between the two best teams in the country. 20 years ago we almost never got to see a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game in a bowl because all of the conference champions were bound to go to specific games contractually. There was something mythic about the Rose Bowl back then, when you knew it would be the Big 10 champ versus the Pac-10 champ. Growing up as an Ohio St. fan, the only two markers for a season were whether we beat Michigan and whether we went to the Rose Bowl.

From my point of view the University of Florida's team deserves the shot at Ohio St. They won their conference (Michigan did not), and they have a better record against Top 25 and bowl-eligible teams than does Michigan. Let's hope the voters and the computers spit out that result. I'd like nothing more than to hear Michigan fans and apologists whine for the next 8 weeks.

I was talking with my wife the other day and she pointed out that my ranking of Japanese actresses is sadly out of date. Yuko Takeuchi has been married long enough to have had a kid, which means she is obviously ineligible to keep her Number 2 spot. So, for the record, he is the Top 5 as of December 2, 2006:

1) Takako Tokiwa (常盤貴子) - Still going strong, though from what I can tell she hasn't appeared in a TV drama in years. Here, she makes canned coffee look delicious <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE5iVNHAyXk>

2) Manami Konishi (小西真奈美) - A potential future Number 1. Here she is selling "beer" made from soybeans (which is just wrong, but don't get me started) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x55reW_bv_A>

3) Ryoko Kuninaka (国仲涼子) - See my previous post. Here's a song she sings <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A380fr4PqZ0>

4) Eri Fukatsu (深津絵里) - Here's a change in the rankings. To tell you the truth, she reminds me of a friend of mine. Apparently, she sells IP Telephone service as well <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVnc4kzktGg>

5) Mao Kobayashi (小林麻央) - This one will probably drive my wife nuts. Originally, I wasn't such a big Mao fan, but she has grown on me. I suspect she isn't as dumb as she sounds. Here she is (in Blue) talking to Sanma Akashiya
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwUTZ7S3JD8>

So, there you have it.